Table 3. Group comparisons across levels of social resources for participants exposed to a) 1 or 2, or b) 3 or more stressful life events, adjusted for earlier sociabilitya .
Group comparisons | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Number of stressful life events age 45 | |||||
Mid-life outcomes | Typical vs Poor resources | Rich vs Poor resources | Rich vs Typical resources | N | |
| |||||
IRR (95% CI) | |||||
Affective symptoms (age 45) | |||||
1-2 | 0.96 [0.85-1.09] | 0.88 [0.75-1.04] | 0.92 [0.78-1.07] | 1967 | |
3 or more | 0.99 [0.83-1.18] | 0.90 [0.73-1.11] | 0.91 [0.74-1.12] | 616 | |
| |||||
Psychological distress (age 50) | |||||
1-2 | 0.94 [0.83-1.07] | 0.96 [0.82-1.12] | 1.02 [0.88-1.18] | 1803 | |
3 or more | 1.09 [0.90-1.31] | 0.94 [0.74-1.19] | 0.86 [0.68-1.09] | 534 |
Analyses are adjusted for gender, social class and prior mental health symptoms. Weighted incidence rate ratios are reported, CI = confidence interval. Significant findings are in bold, * p<0.05, ** p<0.01, *** p<0.001, # = p<0.10.
Note: Earlier sociability included the following variables: seeing friends outside school in childhood, going to discos or parties during adolescence, and confiding relationships in adult life.